Different parking regulations enforced during winter months
Snow falls Jan. 28 on High St. The storm led to the closing of Central Michigan University's campus.
Frigid temperatures accompanied more than a foot of snow, which has since melted, flooding lawns and forming small ponds on sidewalks during the week of Jan. 28.
As snow begins to fall in the upcoming weeks, it is the City of Mount Pleasant’s responsibility to remove snow along four snowplowing routes and salt five separate routes, according to the Division of Public Works.
Mount Pleasant is forecasted to get a series of snow showers from Feb. 12 through Feb. 19, according to The Weather Channel website.
The order of priority for these snowplowing routes are the following: major streets and downtown businesses, residential streets, parking lots and lastly cul-de-sacs and alleys.
“Salting and plowing may start anytime during the day or night,” according to the Division of Public Works website. “Cars should be off the streets or parked in driveways overnight when inclement weather is predicted.”
From Dec. 1 through April 1, parking on the street or in city parking lots between the hours of 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. is prohibited in the Mount Pleasant.
Cars may be ticketed and towed at the owner's expense if the car is in the way of the plow trucks. In the downtown business district, no parking hours are between 4-6 a.m. throughout the year.
“Enforcement of this parking restriction may not occur each night, but will be enforced at times to help keep the streets clear and safe,” a City of Mount Pleasant blog post read. “For those with overnight parking permits, several City parking lots have designated areas where overnight parking is allowed.”
John Zang, director of Public Works, said the majority of Mount Pleasant citizens comply with these rules. However, there are usually cars "here or there" when the city starts plowing streets.
"(Plow trucks) don't stop plowing when there are a few cars on the streets," Zang said. "They bury them in and the owner gets mad."
The plow trucks then have to come back and remove the snow once the car is removed, Zang said. This can be a headache for everyone, including those who have to maneuver around snow drifts and buried cars, he said.
While Mount Pleasant is responsible for city streets and parking lots, it is the responsibility of the property owners to clear sidewalks.
Commercial and industrial property owners are required to clear sidewalks within 18 hours after snow, sleet or freezing rainfall, with the exception of Sundays. In the case snow falls on Sunday, snow must be cleared from sidewalks by noon the following Monday.
If snow or ice is too hard to remove, they must spread enough abrasive material to make travel safe and must clear a path of at least 48 inches in width when the weather allows. Code enforcement officers may write a municipal civil infraction ticket to commercial and industrial property owners who fail to fulfill these requirements of the ordinance.
According to the city's website, students can expedite snowplowing by avoiding parking on streets when inclement weather is predicted and clearing sidewalks of snow within 24 hours, including mailbox approach.
